A GOOD APPETITE; Crispy Duck That's Light Enough for Spring

By MELISSA CLARK

Published: April 14, 2010

WITH so many false starts, when spring finally sprang, it caught me by surprise. But there it was, complete with trees blossoming and tiny green shoots inching out of pots.

Only days before, while it was still cold out, I had bought some fat-cloaked duck breasts, intent on trying to emulate a meal I had eaten recently while on vacation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The dish, served at a small restaurant called John Gray's Place, was a paragon of intensity and richness -- duck breasts roasted until crisp-skinned but still rosy, served with sweet potatoes, green beans and a long-simmered sauce of chipotle chilies, Yucat?honey and tequila. Divine, but with the onslaught of the warm weather, it seemed more appropriate for a February.

So I decided to apply a light touch to my duck dish, having mentally shelved all dark brown sauces and sweet potatoes until autumn.

I imagined a meaty, vegetable-rich tangle with slivers of duck and bits of savory cracklings still attached. A new, more springlike dish started coalescing in my head, a duck and green bean salad.

Even though I changed the form of the duck dish into a salad, I still wanted to preserve the spicy flavor of the Mexican one I had eaten. So I rubbed the flesh with chipotle chili powder, cumin and cinnamon before searing it.

As it cooked, the fat rendered in a ruddy, fragrant puddle. After it was finished cooking, I decanted the fat into a jar for future potato frying. Then I went ahead and sliced up the breasts.

I tossed the duck with watercress and blanched green beans, dressing it all with lime (another nod to Mexico), garlic and olive oil.

Remembering the honey in the sauce of the duck I had sampled in Mexico, I also sprinkled in some honeyed almonds left over from a cake, hoping they would add a gentle crunch and a little sweetness.

Then I took a big bite.

While the components of the dish -- duck, almonds, green beans and watercress -- were tasty, they didn't quite come together, the flavors separate on the tongue. So I tossed in a little of the warm, rendered duck fat, hoping the chipotle flavor would tie everything together.

It worked, adding a glistening chili-spiked kick to a salad still perfectly suited to spring.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook honey and salt until thin and runny, then mix in almonds until coated. Add sugar and toss to coat. Spread nuts on baking sheet (lined with parchment paper) and bake, stirring once, until deeply golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let nuts cool, then break up clumps with your fingers.

2. In a medium pot on medium-high heat, bring six cups salted water to boil. Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Cook green beans until bright green and tender, 2 to 4 minutes depending on thickness of beans. Drain, then plunge into ice water to stop cooking. Drain and pat dry.

3. Raise oven heat to 400 degrees. Using a sharp knife, score duck fat into a crosshatch pattern, with cuts a half-inch apart. You want to cut through fat but not into flesh of duck.

4. In a small bowl, mix salt, chili, pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Rub mix all over duck, working it into the fat.

5. Set an ovenproof pan on the stove over medium-low heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil, heat for a few seconds, then add duck, fat side down. Sear without moving until dark brown, about 10 minutes (if it starts to burn, lower the heat). Flip duck and cook for 1 minute, then transfer pan to oven and roast until meat is done to taste, 4 to 8 minutes longer for medium rare (130 degrees). Let duck rest on a cutting board. Reserve 2 tablespoons of fat from pan.

6. Using mortar and pestle or side of a heavy knife, make a paste from garlic and a pinch of salt. In a small bowl, mix it with lime juice and a half-teaspoon salt, then drizzle in remaining olive oil, whisking well.

7. In a large bowl, toss green beans and watercress with reserved pan drippings and just enough of dressing to coat. Taste and add salt if desired.

8. Slice duck breasts and toss with salad. Garnish with almonds and serve.